


Heart's Bounty

by ayzenigma, bewaretheboojum, chibi_nightowl, Nanimok, njw, Rider_of_Spades, vellaphoria



Series: A Journey of Personal Discovery Through Social Isolation [3]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Alternate Universe - Space Opera, Bounty Hunters, Dragons, M/M, Rescue Missions, Soulmates, please ask us about all the ways this almost turned into an epic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-18 21:00:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20319418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ayzenigma/pseuds/ayzenigma, https://archiveofourown.org/users/bewaretheboojum/pseuds/bewaretheboojum, https://archiveofourown.org/users/chibi_nightowl/pseuds/chibi_nightowl, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nanimok/pseuds/Nanimok, https://archiveofourown.org/users/njw/pseuds/njw, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rider_of_Spades/pseuds/Rider_of_Spades, https://archiveofourown.org/users/vellaphoria/pseuds/vellaphoria
Summary: As dragons, Jason and Kon had always known they were soulmates. Together they'd flown between the stars, eked out a living collecting bounties on the outer edges of the Core, and fought anyone who would stand in their way. Even so, they'd always felt that something was still missing from their partnership.But everything changed when their contact in the Core's underground all but ordered them to track down a disgraced Fleet pilot trying to prove his innocence. Commander Drake was running from his past, and only one thing was certain: he had far more in store for these bounty hunters than they could ever have anticipated.





	Heart's Bounty

**Author's Note:**

  * For [clarityhiding](https://archiveofourown.org/users/clarityhiding/gifts).

> Happy birthday [clarityhiding](https://archiveofourown.org/users/clarityhiding/pseuds/clarityhiding)!
> 
> We hope that this present does justice to your love of SPACE people having SPACE adventures on SPACEships while traveling through SPACE (and also soulmates and dragons... in SPACE).
> 
> [Capes & Coffee Tim Drake discord server](https://discord.gg/bGhpCDn)

There were times, many in fact, when being a bounty hunter sucked. Kon had grown up in a royal house on Krypton so he was more than passingly familiar with the finer things in life. What he saw before him on his dinner plate could not be more foreign to him if it tried.

He wouldn’t be surprised if the thing on his plate jumped out and attacked him in the next couple of seconds. 

“What’s this?”

Jason barely glanced up from the datascreen he was reading, his own fork stabbing at the plate in front of him. “Beef and broccoli.”

“I’ve been to Earth. I know what beef is.” Kon poked around the pile of green vegetable over a meager portion of rice, both coated in some unidentifiable brown sauce that didn’t look particularly appetizing, but probably was because this was Jason. His soulmate knew how to cook. “Where’s the beef?”

“If you got any creds socked away somewhere you haven’t told me about, use that to buy beef. Can’t even afford fucking tofu right now.” Jason stabbed a piece of broccoli viciously.

Kon could feel the frustration through their soul bond. “Anything promising?” he asked, gesturing to the datascreen. They needed a job and soon. Food was the least of their worries. They needed fuel too. While their dragon forms were fantastic for moving between systems, riding on the back of lightwaves and gamma streams, it didn’t exactly allow them to bring anything else along. Even the smallest trinket was lost when they took their ethereal forms.

“Nope.” Jason took a sip from his tea. It was the cheap stuff, which Kon knew he hated and only bought out of desperation and pure addiction. “But _ Hold Up _ will be on soon. New month, new bounties. Maybe Steph or Dinah will give us the signal for something good.”

“This is why having connections with the Federation Space Force comes in handy.”

“Yeah, yeah. Former Kryptonian military, blah blah blah.”

Kon flicked a grain of rice at him. “You like a man in uniform.”

Jason winked. “I like taking you out of it better.”

“Maybe later I can dig it out for you. If we start something now, we’ll miss _ Hold Up_.”

They finished dinner, and Kon washed the dishes. He wasn’t the best when it came to housekeeping, but he tried. On a ship this size, a cleaning-bot made no sense whatsoever.

In the common room, Kon settled beside Jason on the raggedy sofa, their equally broad shoulders jostling for space before Kon slouched. It was small things like this that made him think something wasn’t quite right between them. Soulmates were supposed to be perfectly compatible, even physically. There was no mistaking they were soulmates though. Dragons knew instinctively when they found their partner, the first time their eyes met in their true forms.

Humans had a saying about how the eyes were the windows to the soul, one that Kon found rather appropriate when he heard it.

Jason flipped on the larger holoscreen and entered his bounty hunter ID number when the access screen flashed. They were both licensed hunters; they had to be in order to do this job. There were times when Kon thought Jason acted more like the bandit than the hunter, but he figured it had to do with his own background. His soulmate hadn’t had the easiest of upbringings on the Mars colony where he’d been born.

“I wonder what Dinah’s wearing this time?” Kon idly commented, which made Jason laugh.

“Don’t know, don’t care,” Jason said, despite his eyes tracking her across the room.

Kon snorted. “Puh-leeze. You want her to twist you up into one of those whatsits… a pretzel?”

“I like strong women, what can I say?” Jason grinned easily. “Kory spoiled me for life.”

“You just like women who can kick your ass.”

“That too.”

It wasn’t Kon’s thing, but he could still appreciate the black leather visage of the Black Canary when she appeared on screen. She always wore something different, unlike her counterpart, the Spoiler. Stephanie’s purple hood was pulled low, concealing her identity from the other hunters who logged in to view the broadcast.

The two women took turns reading off the new bounty sheets from the various sectors in the Federation. Kon paid close attention to the ones within their range, which were depressingly small until a new poster flashed beside Stephanie’s hooded face.

“Last one, folks. The Federation Navy has issued a five million cred bounty on the man you see here. Former Fleet Commander Timothy Jackson Drake has been charged with conspiracy, kidnapping, and the attempted murder of Fleet Admiral Bruce Wayne. Normally politics keeps the good stuff like this under wraps, but the Navy is utterly desperate to get their hands on this guy. He’s got connections to the League of Assassins, possibly even all the way up to the big man himself, Ra’s al Ghul, who still has a one hundred million cred bounty on his head, by the way. All the details are up on the screen. Good luck!” 

Steph waved good-bye to the camera while Dinah performed her signature kick to close the broadcast.

Neither Jason or Kon missed the subtle flicks of both their fingers.

Jason let out a slow breath. “They want us to do what?”

“They want us to go after this Drake guy.”

“No shit. But why?”

Jason no sooner asked that question when their holoscreen lit up again, this time with an incoming call. The stylized green and white mask could only be from one person.

Oracle, Kon’s contact in the FSF. He had no idea who she really was, or if she was even a woman at all. But she’d reached out to him after he left Krypton in disgrace, giving him direction and purpose. It was because of her that he met Jason.

“Q&A time,” her computerized voice spoke as soon as Jason accepted the call. 

“Yeah, seriously,” Kon said, sitting up and glaring at the screen. “By Rao, why do you want us to go after a guy like that? I can’t get involved with politics. It was part of my agreement with Kal when I left Krypton.”

“You also signed an agreement to avoid yellow sun, and yet, I know you have a yellow sunlight generator on that ship,” Oracle replied without missing a beat.

“Prove it.” He totally did, tucked away in the cargo hold. It came in handy sometimes.

“If you guys accepted more lucrative jobs, you wouldn’t have had to smuggle anything out. You could’ve just paid off your fines. Easy peasy.”

Kon folded his arms. “We have our reasons.”

Their reasons consisted of having actual morals and helping the unfortunate for free. But of course, there’s no place for silly things like morals and, god forbid, _ kindness, _in the kind of circles they run in—these are things that get you bleeding on the ground with your pockets turned out and your airship raided dry. 

A small smile twitched on Oracle’s face. “You just confirmed the sunlight generator for me.”

Kon opened his mouth, on the verge of rebutting.

“Knock it off.” Jason shoved Kon in the ribs. “I take it there’s more to this story than what’s on the factsheet?” 

Trust Jason to already have downloaded it. His soulmate was eerily efficient like that.

“Much more. Admiral Wayne has had an on again, off again liaison with a high ranking member of the League of Assassins for the last two decades. The League decided it needed to be permanent, and kidnapped him two months ago.”

“Two months?” Kon and Jason shared incredulous looks.

“Yes. And it’s thanks to the efforts of Fleet Commander Drake that the Navy even has the Admiral back.”

Kon’s eyes narrowed. He sensed politics and when Oracle spoke again, his feeling was confirmed. 

“Commander Drake’s actions were, how shall we say, less than by the book when it came to Admiral Wayne’s rescue. There are policies and procedures in place for events like this and he flew in the face of all of them.”

Jason nodded approvingly. “Sounds like my kind of guy.” 

“The Commander has a history of forward thinking, but knows when and how to play the game,” Oracle continued. “He pissed off some very powerful people, several of whom would very much have liked to see the Admiral just disappear. They’re the ones who have laid these claims against Drake and have the power to make the charges stick.”

Kon shook his head. He hated politics. “What does Wayne have to say about all this?”

“Nothing. He has no memory of the last two months. The last thing he clearly remembers was sitting down for dinner with his sons the night he was kidnapped. The next thing he knows, he’s waking up in the medbay of his flagship with a rather large gap in between.”

“Ouch.” Jason grimaced. “I’ve got some holes in my memory, but nothing quite like that.”

“So where do we come in?” Kon asked, wanting to get to the point of all this. “What exactly do you want us to do?”

“Both of you have some rather unique skill-sets I think would work well here. You’re former Kryptonian military and Jason’s a semi-reformed smuggler. I want you to make contact with Commander Drake and offer any assistance you can to help him.”

“Help him with what?”

“Prove his innocence by taking down the League of Assassins.”

Jason leaned forward. “It sounds like you know exactly where he is.”

“That’s because I do. He works for me.”

* * *

The League ship loomed large in the viewscreen. Ugly, threatening, and way the hell bigger than anything the _Outlaw_ had ever successfully tangled with in the past. Jason stared at it for a long moment, calculating firepower and not liking the odds. “Remind me again why we’re doing this?”

“Beef,” Kon responded simply. At Jason’s judging look, his soulmate snickered and then sent him an impossibly handsome grin that made him briefly consider consigning this stupid mission to the void and just taking some time for themselves instead.

Too bad they had other commitments that took priority. 

“But seriously…” He hated to back down from a fight, but Oracle hadn’t warned them to expect something of this magnitude_ . _ They were supposed to rendezvous with the fugitive on a League ship Drake infiltrated. They’d expected a science vessel or something, not… whatever the frag _ this _ was. He looked at the viewscreen again and swallowed, jaw clenching. “What’s Drake doing on the damn League of Assassins _ flagship?” _ He gestured roughly toward the warship, easily ten times the size of the _ Outlaw_. 

Kon shook his head, brows drawing together. “Trying to clear his name? But why didn’t Oracle know it was _ this _ship? Considering Drake works for her, she should have had better intel.” He frowned. “Maybe he didn’t give her a full report? If he thought she’d say no… Better to ask forgiveness than permission and all that?”

Jason snorted, unamused. “The criminal on the run lied, color me surprised.” 

“Hey, he’s innocent, and it’s not like _ we’ve _always been on the right side of the law,” Kon began, only to be interrupted by a soft alert from the ship. “Oh… Oracle’s program is in!” 

Jason glanced down at the readings. His eyebrows rose as he scanned the output. He’d known Oracle was good, but _ frag. _ Apparently, the virus she designed and sent along with them actually managed to compromise the security on the League’s fragging flagship_. _ According to the screens, the _ Nanda Parbat _ was effectively blind, all sensors and view screens looped for the next twenty minutes. 

It was enough to give him hope that the second part of the mission would proceed just as smoothly. Oracle’s virus was programmed to make contact with Drake, wherever he was on that ship, and instruct him to proceed to the docking bay. If everything went according to plan, he’d meet them there and they’d be in and out during the brief window of opportunity. 

Of course, one thing he had learned in his checkered career was that nothing _ ever _went entirely according to plan.

“Here’s hoping this works,” he muttered as he brought the _ Outlaw _ out from behind the bulk of the asteroid they’d used for cover. Neither of them breathed as their ship inched closer to the dreadnought, their bodies tensed ready to fight their way out if they were spotted. 

The eerie calm that marked their approach was hair-raising. His knuckles were white on the controls when the _ Outlaw _ finally came abreast of the larger ship. Kon took over the helm to actually dock with the ship, leaving Jason free to begin loading them both down with even more weapons and ammunition than they were already carrying.

“I don’t think I can move my arms,” Kon complained as he eyed the third pulse-rifle now strapped to his shipsuit harness. “I’m not even sure I can stand up under all this weight!”

Jason rolled his eyes, eyeing him with grim approval before adding another phase cannon to his own bristling array of weaponry. “Whatever, I’ve seen you deadlift a damn Tesla-class spaceship before. You’re fine. Besides, we’re taking on the fraggin’ _ League flagship. _Now ain’t the time to go in half-cocked.”

The other man smirked as he rose to his feet easily despite his complaints about all the gear. “And we both know you’d never do _ that_. Fully-cocked, every time, that’s you.”

“You know it!” Jason winked and waggled his eyebrows suggestively before turning to lead the way through the ship to the airlock. 

“Drake better be ready to meet us,” Kon muttered as he followed close behind. “Too bad he went dark before Oracle had a chance to let him know we were coming.” They both stepped into the airlock, which immediately cycled shut on the _ Outlaw’s _ side.

“Yeah, that sure as frag would’ve made this mission a hell of a lot easier,” he replied. “Still, her little message piggybacked on that virus should smooth the way just fine.” He turned to grin at his partner just as the _ Nanda Parbat _ airlock cycled open. That meant he had a perfect view of how his soulmate’s expression changed from amusement to horrified to dismay. 

Well, frag. He didn’t really need to ask, but… “There’s a shitload of assassins with blasters standing right behind me, isn’t there?”

Kon winced. “Uh, yeah?” He tilted his head. “I mean, some of them have photon cannons and I think one guy in the back might have a flamethrower, but yeah. Mostly blasters.”

_ “Frag _ it! Why don’t we ever get to do anything the _ easy _way?!”

Kon straightened his shoulder in a manner he always did before shifting. To anyone else, it’d look like a shrug.

“Right,” Jason huffed as he slowly turned around. “A flamethrower’s cute and all, but you’re going to need more than that to—” 

Triggers were pulled. Kon and Jason hauled themselves sideways, landing in a roll— 

—but hard metal clamped around their ankles, yanking them smack dab against the ground. 

Jason twisted, ready to shoot first and think later, until his eye caught the particular band of metal biting at their ankles. An alloy of kryptonite and steel. 

Shifter-damping restraints.

“Uh oh,” he said.

A heavy wave of electricity seized his body. His muscles tightened in agonising pain. He yelled out a cry as his head slammed against the floor, bouncing from the height. 

His vision blurred into darkness.

* * *

Tim pivoted smoothly on his heel and strode easily down the corridor, forcing his face into a neutral mask as a flood of soldiers marched past him. The last thing he needed was to incite anyone’s suspicions, not now when he was suddenly so close to redeeming his reputation and finally going home. But someone on the ship was already doing the work for him, making the mistake of a sloppy infiltration, and heckling up enough distraction for Tim to slip inconspicuously through the hallways. 

He thought back over the garbled message he had just received from Oracle. Even his mentor’s vaunted tech skills apparently had trouble facing off against the League flagship’s security, so whatever she’d been trying to tell him was lost except for the last few words instructing him to head to the docking bay upon receiving the message. Well, he’d do as she said and then figure out the rest from there. 

Hopefully. 

There were no ship-wide alarms going off yet, so the League must not have detected either Oracle’s incursion or his own little going away present. He mentally checked the time and then increased his speed slightly. Fifty minutes and counting until the ship’s systems are alerted. 

Most likely, there would be some kind of transport waiting to meet him. The moment he’d received the message, he had walked calmly down to Medical and lifted a vial of the Anamnesis Nanites used to suppress Admiral Wayne’s memories. With those, he should be able to restore Bruce’s memories as proof of his claims and clear his own name at last. 

Of course, there was no way he could escape detection now that he’d actually stolen the vial. Frag, if Oracle hadn’t sent him a ride home, he’d just have to liberate one of the League shuttles and take his chances. He was committed at this point, so it didn’t matter that the odds of him surviving this escape without backup were vanishingly small. All his careful work over the past months, the contingencies and plans he had prepared while catering to the League’s belief that he was their loyal tool…

In less than an hour, all of it would be over, one way or another. 

Tim smiled as he approached the final bend before the docking bay. Everything was going so smoothly, it was almost unbelievable. His steps slowed in front of the bay door. 

It was easy. Too easy. With that in mind, he drew his photon staff and activated it before pressing his palm to the touchpad. 

The loading bay was empty.

“What the frag?” he mouthed, briefly stunned. He blinked, checked the encrypted communicator which Oracle uses, then blinked again. 

Nope. Still empty.

“What the frag, Oracle?” Tim hissed. He wracked his brain for Oracle’s last message, checking to see if he had missed something, some kind of hint which he’d misinterpreted. 

Her message was more muddied than usual—interference from the League’s tightened security due to the earlier infiltration attempt—

Tim straightened up.

—due to the earlier, _ sloppier, _ infiltration attempt. The cause for all the hullabaloo not long ago. So obvious and clumsy that one could even say that it wasn’t an _ infiltration _ at all and more of an _ exfiltration... _

_ Oh, frag, _ Tim thought, pinching the bridge of his nose. He could already feel the migraine coming, and the familiar bubble of hysterical laughter rising up his chest.

What kind of air-headed space cattle did Oracle send after him?

Well, Tim thought—as his brain whizzed through the logistics of breaking into the League’s prison with a pair of matching guard uniforms—the same kind who needed to be saved, he guessed. If Oracle trusted them, he’d have to follow suit. It wasn’t like he had much choice at this point. 

Dragging his feet, and drawing his photon staff, he mentally mapped the way from the prison to the storage bay where the League kept prisoner’s ships to be assessed and scavenged for spare parts. Tim hoped his air-headed space cattle weren’t too attached to their ship, because even a minute with the League’s engineers could do a lifetime of damage.

“Serves them right for getting caught in the first place,” Tim grumbled to himself.

Times like these, he was glad humans weren’t one of the many species in the galaxy with soulmates. If only to teach him that the only one he could rely on was himself. 

* * *

Twenty-five minutes left and Tim had taken out around four sets of guards. He was running out of supply chambers and weapon crates to stuff them in. Not to mention his arms were getting more of a workout shoving bodies into hidden corners than actually knocking them out with his photon staff. 

He lugged the body behind him, dragging the unconscious guard to the security room he had secured earlier. As he was about to activate the door with the touchpad, a hollow ‘_thud’ _sounded behind the heavy door. Muffled, Tim heard the barest murmur of a heated conversation being exchanged between two different voices before a hushed silence took over.

He paused. 

Aside from the bodies he had chucked in the room, it should be completely empty. And if it the alarm hadn’t started blaring despite two clearly _ conscious _people arguing in the room, the most likely explanation was the possibility Oracle’s people may have slipped from their prison and broken into the security room to chart their escape. They must’ve heard him dragging the guard’s body, and it was highly likely they were currently planning an ambush

Huh. Tim guessed his space cattle weren’t as air-headed as he thought after all. 

He hauled the body upright, then shoved it forward just as he opened the door with his touchpad. 

A large form with a loud voice charged at him. “_Aaargh_—”

The guard’s body flopped face first onto the ground. 

The voice halted in his steps. “—okay_...? _ That was surprisingly easy?”

Someone snorted. “Nice one. Dork.”

Two humanoid men stood before him, bristling with armaments and braced for a fight. Mercenaries, maybe, or bounty hunters based on their gear and appearance. Both their bright blue gazes snapped to him the moment he appeared. They paused when their eyes landed on him. 

Tim folded his arms. 

It was a good thing he had the moral high ground right then, because that’s about the only high ground he had with the mercenaries. They both towered over him. 

Raising an eyebrow, Tim asked, “Oracle’s rescue brigade, I presume?”

At the mention of the word ‘rescue’ reminding them who should really be doing the rescuing around here, both men shuffled their feet sheepishly. 

The one with white in his hair recovered quickly. “Wait, haven’t I seen your picture on a bounty lately? How much are you worth again?” He flashed a charming grin, and Tim was a little annoyed at himself for flushing under the attention. 

“The name’s Jason, by the way,” he continued, thumbing at himself. He pointed at his equally broad-shouldered, equally muscled partner. “And the guy who almost bulldozed you out of the galaxy is Kon.” 

Kon waved back at him. “Hi,” he said weakly.

Tim’s lips twitched up. “Hi,” he greeted back. “Where was all that charging _ before _you two got caught, huh?”

Tim watched as Kon—a good head taller than him, a good _ ton _bulkier than him in pure muscle, he would bet—blushed red from head to toe until he resembled nothing so much as those Earthian ‘tomatoes’ Tim had heard so much about. 

He could get used to power like this. Although he probably shouldn’t be thinking of flirting at the moment, considering the current level of danger. 

“Timothy Drake,” he said. “As you probably already know.” He nodded at the guard on the floor. “Hope you guys aren’t too attached to your clothes.”

“Takes more than a first date to get me out of my clothes there, sweetheart.” Jason grinned. It was a tad too sharp. “Warning you now, though,” he said, waving at him. “Me and him? We’re a package deal.”

“What he said,” Kon muttered, still red, but a little firmer on his feet.

Tim rolled his eyes, suppressing a smile at the other man’s brazen banter. “I meant for camouflaging, Todd. We’re on a time schedule and the storage bay for prisoner’s ships is back in the other direction. The fastest way to get there is to blend in. Is this going to fit at least one of you? Or are we going to have filch from the others?”

Jason looked at Kon. Kon looked at Jason.

“The others?” Kon asked.

So Tim showed them the others, stuffed in all the nooks and crannies of the prison sector.

Jason whistled in appreciation. “Hot damn.”

_ “Dude,” _Kon breathed. “You’ve got to be worth some big bucks.”

Nodding, Jason repeated, “_Big _bucks.”

“Guys,” Tim said. Seriously, _ bounty hunters. _ “Time schedule.”

“We were wondering why there were no guards on rotation.” Kon paused. “Now, I guess we know.”

Jason eyed him up. “Say… What are you plans after this? You need a new gig?”

“_Time schedule_,” Tim emphasized, not ready to consider being recruited while in the midst of escaping the League of goddamn Assassins. Although, maybe _ after… _

Despite fighting over the clothes in a way that made him wish he’d never work with a couple ever again, Jason and Kon strapped themselves into standard League gear with an efficiency that made it hard to look away.

But he did. Look away that is. Even after all this time serving Ra’s al Ghul, he still considered himself a good person, okay? Although it’s a little pathetic of him to be drooling after the first two attractive men he’s seen in weeks. He thought he had more self-control than that.

“God, you guys are the embodiment of every bad stereotype about couples’ non-stop bickering,” Tim said, picking up the League-standard photon swords and handing them to Kon and Jason. “How do you even hear yourselves think? Here. Carry this on your hips and hand me your photon cannons. I’ll hold them for you.”

Kon unstrapped his photon cannon and handed it over to Tim. “I thought it wasn’t unusual for members of the League to carry their own personal weapons.”

“Not at this rank. Guards are fitted with standardized photon weapons.”

Reluctantly, Jason handed Tim his weapon. “Be careful with my babies. It hurts for me to be away from them.”

“I’ll protect them with my life,” Tim said dryly.

Jason ignored him in favor of addressing his canons. “Spike? Vicious? You hear me? You tell me if Drake’s not treating you right, okay?”

“Is he always like this?” Tim asked Kon.

“No,” Kon said. “He’s worse without the time pressure. Get your ass moving, Jason.”

“I know when I’m not loved here,” Jason said, voice muffling as he slid his helmet on. “And to answer your previous question, we’re not your stereotypical couple or even bonded _ pair, _ we’re your stereotypical bonded _ trio _with a missing third who’d love me where Kon won’t, I bet.”

“I pity the third guy,” Tim told him, tucking away the information that apparently his rescuers are something other than fully human. 

He ran through a mental list of species which appear relatively similar to humans and possess soulmate bonds. Terelian, maybe? Except they didn’t seem particularly peaceful. Well, it hardly mattered anyway.

Kon snorted. “Move, Jason.”

“Actually, don’t move yet. You’ll need to adjust your stride,” Tim said. “Right now, you both walk like a bunch of hired mercenaries.”

“That’s because we are…?” Kon said.

“Yes, but you need to walk like a bunch of the _ League’s _ mercenaries,” Tim said, straightening his stance. “Straighten up, shoulders squared, chin up and forward, and one hand on your photon sword constantly. Stay a step behind me always, but look hurried, as if we’ve been summoned for a meeting. Just follow me and this should be… how does Oracle say it… a piece of Earthian ‘kek’.”

Jason scrunched his nose. “Do you mean _ cake?” _

Tim frowned, peering up at Jason. “That’s what I said, wasn’t it?”

Jason blinked at him, momentarily unguarded. “…Uh, no.” He shook himself. “And that’s not what you call Earth things either. But we can work on it later. Maybe, if you’re lucky, I’ll even bake you a cake myself.”

“I wouldn’t call that luck,” Kon said. “Your baking skills… really prove how much of a great chef you are.”

“Your complimenting skills really shows how much of a great _ dick _you are,” Jason fired back.

Kon smirked. “You love my great dick.”

“And that’s my cue to cut in,” Tim said. “Time schedule, remember? Nine minutes left.”

“Nine minutes until what?”

Tim didn’t answer. He had already turned and walked off, leaving Jason and Kon scrambling after him. Jason and Kon were interesting, sure, more refreshing and vibrant than anything Tim had encountered since he went undercover, but he needed to focus. An old instinct swelled inside him, the same one that had kept him alive for this long. Even walking the hallways were dangerous. He needed to exude an air of invulnerability to hide any hint of suspicious activity.

Plastering on his coldest sneer, and a general air of disinterest, he strode forward and dared anyone to stop him for a challenge.

_ “Fragging heck,” _Tim heard one of the guys whisper behind him.

They navigated through the hallways until he paused at a touchpad. “There will be a couple of guards stationed at your ship,” Tim informed them. “Possibly one or two intermediate fighters accompanying the engineers. Nothing we shouldn’t be able to handle.”

“Engineers?” Kon hissed indignantly. “Those frag faced nosers better keep their hands out of my precious baby.”

“Whenever you’re ready, squirt,” Jason told him.

Tim placed his palm on the touchpad. Let’s hope the second time’s the charm when it comes to opening bay doors, he thought. 

Of course, it wasn’t that easy.

An entire squad of Ra’s al Ghul’s elite fighters stood between him and an open airlock into a ship which, presumably, was meant to be his ride out of here. 

Everything was about to happen fast. The League fighters had glanced up at his entrance, then over his shoulder to focus on the intruders whose stolen uniforms weren’t fooling anybody now. The squad’s focus was entirely on the pair of bounty hunters behind him, disregarding the possibility that he might present a threat.

They still thought he was on their side. He could use that. 

Too many opponents, too small a space. Five minutes and counting. 

He saw the League squad commander lift his blaster, finger tightening infinitesimally over the trigger. It was on. 

“Move!” he shouted, already airborne and swinging his photon staff in a broad arc through the assembled fighters. Seven went down to his initial blow, with minor burns and soft-tissue damage. Dodging retaliatory fire, he threw a glance over his shoulder to check on his would-be rescuers, but they weren’t there anymore. Odd. 

“Not used to having someone around to watch your back, are you?” The deep voice coming from right behind him startled him enough he almost got hit by a blaster. A big hand grabbed his shoulder and yanked him to the side at the last moment. “Kinda job I could get used to.”

Twisting to look, he realized that Jason and Kon were somehow fighting right beside him, covering his back and each other’s. Jason let go and winked again as he turned back to the fight, taking down three more fighters with a few judicious shots to the kneecaps. Definitely not useless cattle, Tim thought appreciatively. “What, you thought we were just a couple of pretty faces? Hell no, we can kick ass just fine. Frag, Kon just punched out the squad leader with his own photon cannon, I love it when he does that shit.” Jason grinned at him charmingly, not breaking eye contact as he shoved Tim to the side and then shot out a few more kneecaps.

How did they get behind him so fast? Apparently, these guys were a little quicker than ordinary humans, which definitely narrowed the list of species to which they might belong. Also, why were they wasting time on banter in the middle of a fight? Tim rolled his eyes and then swung his photon staff to take down the poor, intrepid few who were foolish enough to stand back up after the last time he knocked them down. “Oh my god, just shut up and shoot!”

“It takes more than that to get him to shut his mouth,” Kon muttered with a knowing smirk as he somehow punched out three League fighters at once, catching the advanced photon cannon one of them dropped as he fell. He checked it out, whistling. “Seems more like something you’d like, Jay.” 

He tossed it over to the other man, who caught it out of the air and immediately put it to use. 

Tim glanced around, somewhat stunned to realize they’d already taken down every fighter. Maybe they would actually be able to escape.

He made eye contact with the bounty hunters, who looked back at him and grinned. 

“C’mon, we gotta get you on our ship—” Jason started, only to break off as the bay doors cycled open again. He and Kon fell into defensive positions, shoving Tim behind them like some helpless civilian. Which was ridiculous, considering they’d seen him in action and knew perfectly damn well exactly how helpless he was _ not. _

He ignored them, instead counting troops as not one, not two, but _ three _squads poured into the docking bay. Kon and Jason threw each other slightly panicked glances, clearly coming to the same realization as him. 

There was no way they were going to win. 

One minute and counting, but it wasn’t going to be _ enough— _not if they couldn’t last.

In the next instant, two things happened. The League troops all simultaneously opened fire, strafing the area with blaster beams, lasers, photon cannons and missiles. And… Jason and Kon disappeared.

Tim was watching when the two vanished from sight, and was stunned to see two vividly beautiful dragons take their places. The larger one, approximately six feet tall at the shoulder, with gorgeous black and white markings on its leathery hide, immediately placed its own body between Tim and the attackers, shielding him from the blasts. The smaller one, marked by stripes and flying overhead using the most elegantly beautiful wings he’d ever seen, inhaled deeply before releasing a fireball which expanded as it flew toward the screaming, stunned League fighters. 

As the attackers scrambled to escape, fighting each other to be first out the bay door, the airborne dragon glanced down at Tim and winked.

“Oh, wow. Jason?” Tim tentatively reached out his hand. The dragon flew closer to nose at it, then made eye contact with him and nodded. “You guys are _ dragons,” _he breathed, finally realizing which soulmate-bonding species his rescuers belonged to. 

Well, it certainly made a strange kind of sense. Dragons were highly sought after, and not in a good way. Working as bounty hunters, these guys could avoid the so-called civilized worlds and stay free. And considering the standard practice on the League flagship was to use astronomically expensive but highly effective shifter-damping restraints when they captured intruders just in case they managed to net a dragon… Well. That explained a lot. 

He opened his mouth to ask another question, but at that moment the ship’s alarms began blaring. “Self-destruct will occur in five minutes. Please initiate evacuation procedures,” a synthesized voice announced. Tim smirked. 

Kon blinked at him. “Did you… set the ship’s auto-destruct to go off?” He sounded impressed. 

“Yep, and I locked the controls so they can’t disable it,” Tim said, then frowned. “Wait, you guys can talk in this form? Then what was with all the winking and nodding earlier?” He raised an eyebrow at Jason, who alighted on Kon’s shoulder and looked at him with an expression that could only be called a smirk. 

“What? It was funny.” The cat-sized dragon—which was ridiculous, considering how huge the man was in his human form—laughed, Jason’s deep, rolling chuckles sounding incongruous emerging from such a tiny, delicate-appearing creature. 

“Okay, we can chat later. Right now, we have five minutes to get the hell out of the blast radius.” Kon nudged Tim toward the airlock and onto the ship, Jason still perched on his shoulder. “You’ve got everything you need, right?”

“Right here,” Tim patted his shipsuit, feeling the shape of the precious vial safely tucked away. He watched, frowning, as the others transformed back into humans, then blushed and turned away when it became apparent they were completely nude. He wasn’t sure if all that flirting earlier meant anything, but either way now was _ not _the time to get distracted by a pair of handsome, charming men. 

“Side effect of the transformation,” Jason said casually as he cocked a hip, grinning. 

“Quit teasing him,” Kon huffed, smacking the other man lightly on the ass as he walked by to settle at the helm and initiate decoupling and launch. “Oh shit,” he muttered a moment later. 

The others both turned at the tightly controlled panic in his voice. “What?” Jason moved quickly to check the screens over his shoulder. “Oh frag, decoupling is disabled. We can’t—”

“Let me have the helm!” Tim nudged easily between both larger men, settling comfortably on his knees between the two pilot chairs. His fingers flew over the controls, activating hidden protocols using his still-functional League credentials. It took longer than he’d like—longer than they _ had_—but he managed to finally decouple the ship from the League vessel. Kon immediately launched it, gaining velocity rapidly as the thrusters worked to distance them from the imminent explosion.

Too late.

Frowning, Tim did the math. Even at maximum velocity for a ship this size and class, there was no way they’d manage to escape the blast wave in the time they had left. 

There was no way he’d survive. 

“You guys can withstand a lot in your dragon forms, right?” Tim keyed in the sequence to eject the ship’s black message pod, the one meant to withstand everything short of a black hole and carry its data back to base should the worst happen.

“What the fuck are you—” Jason’s face twisted with realization. “No.”

Tim calmly extracted the precious vial from his pocket and tucked it into a compartment on the black pod, then held it in his hands, staring numbly. “You’ll both survive. And this will get back back to Oracle, to give Bruce back his memories and clear my name.” He smiled wryly. “I’d rather not be remembered as a traitor, you know?”

Kon shook his head, a pained expression on his handsome face. “Drake, _ Tim, _ you can’t do this. There has to be a way to save you. I’ll—” He broke off, clearly realizing there was nothing he could do.

Looking at both their handsome, stricken faces, Tim had a sinking feeling that all that flirting earlier was all too real. 

Well, frag. At least someone would remember and miss him.

Without conscious thought, Kon found himself reaching out a hand to Tim. The two of them clasped forearms tightly and met each other’s eyes in a brief goodbye. 

Tim’s eyes were a brilliant soft blue, glinting with an intense energy that seemed to burn inside Kon’s mind with a familiar pulsing heat. Mouth dry, Kon discovered his breath came faster as Tim returned his gaze with a calm one of his own, accepting his fate. Transfixed, almost hypnotized by his eyes, he didn’t look away until Jason made an impatient sound behind him and paced half a step away.

“Kon…” Jason called gruffly, not meeting either of their eyes as he tilted his head toward the airlock. “We’re out of time here, buddy.”

“He’s right,” Tim said in a soft voice that made Kon’s throat grow tight and hot. “You need to go. Hurry now. There are only a few minutes left. You need to get as far away as you can.”

Jason grabbed Kon’s shoulder and pulled him away towards the airlock. Kon looked back to see Tim head off down a corridor that led down to the lower level of their ship.

“Jason, we—” Kon started in as they rushed toward the airlock.

His soulmate cut him off with a sharp wave of his hand. He shook his head fiercely, still not meeting his eyes as he punched the open button to the airlock. It began to rotate open with a _ whoosh _.

“Shift,” Jason commanded. “Now.”

Kon swallowed hard and shifted into his dragon form just as the airlock opened fully. Jason kicked off and Kon tripped after him, a bit too big for the door in his dragon form. He floated in zero gravity for the first few seconds, momentum sending him further away from the ship. Then, he spread his wings and took off after Jason, seeking the light waves and gamma streams that would carry them in their ethereal forms far from the oncoming wave of destruction. 

Jason was beating his wings, flying faster than Kon had ever seen him move before, though it didn’t take him long to pull ahead.

Kon closed his eyes as they flew, sure that if he kept them open he would look back at where they had left Tim behind. He wasn’t afraid of the blast that would erupt from behind them in mere minutes, but because of the panicked, irrational sense of wrongness that pervaded his mind with every meter he flew further away from the _ Outlaw _and Tim. 

Shaking his head from side to side, Kon suddenly realized he couldn’t sense Jason flying behind him. Turning, he opened his eyes to look back, finding his soulmate hovering in space, eyes fixed on the _ Outlaw_. 

As they watched, a soft blast came from the side of their doomed ship as an escape pod launched into space.

“He’s…” Kon started, throat tightening, but Jason finished the sentence for him, mental voice heavy with emotion.

“He’s giving himself as much time as he can.”

“Jason…”

“Yeah,” Jason agreed thickly, cutting him off again. “We have to go back.”

That was all Kon needed to hear. 

His heart almost burst with relief as he looped around to intercept the pod. Just as they began to close in, a loud blast rumbled through the _ Nanda Parbat _ and then the much smaller _ Outlaw _. The two ships began to crumple as a large concussive force from the auto-destruct spilled out through space. The force of the blast caught Kon’s spread wings and he and Jason tumbled through the vacuum. By the time he caught himself, he saw Jason had caught up to the pod. He was tugging at the crumpled escape pod with desperate, clawing talons. 

“Kon!” Jason shouted for him. “We need to hurry. It’s going to get worse when the fuel cells go up. We gotta get him out of here.”

Kon rushed over. The pod was a mess, half crumpled on one side. There was no power running through it anymore and the life support was clearly shot. It looked bad but some part of him, some small desperate part, knew that Tim was inside and he still lived.

Rushing in, he wrenched open the hatch. Jason, smaller and more nimble, managed to pull Tim out of the pod and Kon briefly thanked all the gods there might be that dragons were able to carry a small amount of breathable atmosphere in the immediate vicinity of their bodies. Tim was limp when they finally got him out, his suit torn, and there was a long bloody gash across his chest. Jason didn’t hesitate, his claws wrapping around Tim’s upper arms when Kon caught the smaller dragon up in his own talons. 

Jason tucked his wings around Tim’s upper body to protect them both as Kon launched himself away from the escape pod, holding them tight. He flew faster than he ever had before, faster than he even knew he could. 

Sharp pains stabbed at his chest and Kon gasped, struggling to regain his composure. He faltered, pain radiating out from his head and down his spine. Jason and Tim were a heavy dead weight, but he worked past the pain in his wings, the ache in his chest, the tight pull on overworked muscles and sinew. 

Jason tensed under his claws as he let out a soft growl. “Kon, Kon he’s—”

“No. He’s going to be fine. We’re all going to be fine.”

“Tim,” Jason called out, his mental voice commanding even if Tim wasn’t able to hear it. “Tim, you gotta stay with us. No dying on us, you got that?”

Kon wasn’t flying fast enough, they weren’t far enough away from the _ Nanda Parbat. _There was no way they could put enough distance between themselves and the blast when the fuel cells finally blew. Even in their dragon forms, he and Jason might not survive at this range. 

Tim definitely wouldn’t. 

Everything melted down into the furious, desperate beat of Kon’s wings, the commanding shout of Jason’s voice, and the heavy pound of Kon’s heart as he strained to get them somewhere safe.

The sound of the second round of explosions echoed in Kon’s head just as he desperately willed with every fiber of his being for Tim to open those beautiful, brilliant blue eyes. 

Pain. That was the first thing Tim recognized as he slowly came back to himself. The escape pod—no, he wasn’t in the escape pod. Where was he? What…?

Opening his eyes, two things quickly became apparent.

One, he was wrapped in the gossamer-like wings of a dragon—Jason, his brain provided the name—and two… Two, he wasn’t in the escape pod. He wasn’t in a ship at all.

He was in the vacuum of space without any protection other than that of the dragon clutching his arms.

Panic seized through Tim and his breath caught. Wait, breath? How was he breathing? Why wasn’t he cold? Or, colder because he wasn’t in a spacesuit, just the shredded remains of his League uniform.

Lights flashed in the corner of his eye and he turned his head. That was… Oh frag. 

The _ Nanda Parbat _ lit up as the fuel cells were finally caught in the self-destruct he’d initiated about twelve minutes before.

They were too close. Why hadn’t Jason and Kon escaped when they had the chance? Why did they come back for him? They could have saved themselves. He wasn’t worth it, and he’d sent the black pod out with all the information for Oracle and Bruce’s cure. 

It pained him more than he cared to admit that those unearthly blue eyes of Kon’s would be closed forever as soon as that shockwave hit them. That Jason’s brilliant teal orbs would never again see the light of day.

No. No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. This _ wasn’t _ happening.

Tim closed his eyes and reached, reached for something deep inside that hummed louder and louder in his ears, overshadowing the pounding of his heart. He could almost reach it, taste it, feel it, _ embrace _it…

The power exploded through him, or maybe that was the shockwave, but either way, he was no longer the one being held. Tim was the one now holding, _ protecting_, the two dragons who’d attempted to rescue him. He roared into the void as the blast struck his back, sending them tumbling out of control away from the remains of both ships. It hurt, but it hurt more thinking those two brave idiots with their cocky smiles would be torn to bits under the waves of energy that pummeled him.

And then there was nothing. The fires went out, no more oxygen cells to keep them lit. All that was left was the light of distant stars.

Tim opened eyes he hadn’t realized were still closed and spread his wings, trying to regain control over their momentum.

Wait… Wings?

What? 

Taking a deep breath, Tim glanced down. 

This was not the body of a human. No, this was the body of a dragon, a very large dragon who had two smaller forms held securely in his claws against the golden scales of his chest. 

He opened his claws—and what happened to his hands, where were they?—and released Jason and Kon. 

They immediately stretched their wings and darted about, looking for all the world like they were checking each other for wounds. A buzzing sound tickled at his ears, and Tim shook his head to try and dislodge it. Maybe it was a concussion? He’d had them before, so it wasn’t a stretch.

But then Kon and Jason flew upward, coming to a stop just off the end of his new snout. 

Tim caught a flash of brilliant blue and vibrant teal and his world exploded again, the distant buzz now coalescing into words.

“Tim! Can you hear us? Are you alright?” Jason had a good guess as to what the thrill that just ran through him was. And if he was right, Tim should be able to hear his and Kon’s thoughts now. 

Tim blinked once, twice, before his slightly panicked voice flooded across the mental link. “Am _ I _ alright? What about you? Why’d you come back? And did what I think just happened really happen? Frag, I didn’t think spending time with dragons could turn you into one!” 

That last bit broke the tension, and Jason burst into laughter, Kon laughing right alongside him. Tim’s judgemental look was enough to prompt them to settle down enough to answer. 

“Okay, okay. In order,” Kon started, “yes we are alright, because you’re the one who took the brunt of the blast just now. We’re fine since you protected us, and we came back because we couldn’t just leave you to die. Which I realize is the second time we’ve gone to rescue you only for you to rescue us.” 

Jason continued for him, “And if you’re thinking that you just shifted into a giant dragon too big for your shrimpy human form, you’re entirely correct. But that definitely is not because you spent some time with us.” The thought of that possibility almost sent him into another fit of laughter. 

Instead, Jason flew back a few feet and raised his wings in an imitation of a cheer. “Congrats, you’re not as human as you thought!” 

Tim still looked bemused, alternating between blinking and staring at both of them, which was fair considering the amount of information he must be trying to process. 

It probably wasn’t the best time to drop even more on him, but… A look exchanged with Kon confirmed they were on the same page.

Just as they were about to tell Tim the other revelation of the past few minutes, the huge dragon shook his head and looked around, seemingly searching for something. 

“We should find the pod I launched earlier, make sure the blast didn’t set it off course. It’s programmed to correct itself if that does happen, so it should be fine, but just in case.”

Tim must have figured out the direction of the pod, because he took off flying. Jason gave a shrug and followed after, with Kon right beside him.

“Dude, are you always such a workaholic?” 

Jason was pleased to hear the same amount of fondness in his bonded’s words that he himself felt. 

“Oracle needs to get that vial so Bruce can get his memories back,” Tim replied by way of explanation. “We can also follow it and let her know we didn’t go boom.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Kinda need to be alive to get paid, don’t you?”

"True. You clear your name, we get paid and get a new ship and supplies—”

“—And some beef!” Kon chimed in. 

“Yes, and beef. Maybe some cake while we’re at it. And after that…" Jason smirked at Tim. "Remember when I asked if you wanted a new gig? Offer still stands. It would be nice to get to know the third of our bonded trio better, without the assassins this time." 

That brought Tim up short as he whirled around to face the smaller two dragons. Or at least, tried to. Jason heard Kon smother a snicker at the way the newly transformed dragon miscalculated his movement and ended up overturning by ninety degrees.

When Tim righted himself again, sputtering, Jason and Kon were both grinning at him. 

“Um, what?” 

Jason felt his toothy grin widen as he started to explain. “See, when three dragons love each other very, very much—” 

Kon batted at him with a wing. “Quit teasing him, dude. We don’t want to scare him off.” 

And indeed Tim’s eyes were a little buggy, and he looked like he was ready to go after the pod again any second. 

Jason at least had the decency to give a sheepish smile. “Sorry, couldn’t help it. The opportunity was too good to pass up.

“Here, do you feel this?” He reached within himself and tugged lightly on their soulbond, watching as Tim reacted with a gentle shudder. “That’s our soulbond you’re feeling. It was completed when we all made eye contact for the first time as dragons earlier.” 

“You’re our missing third, the piece that fills the gap where me and Jason are always bumping awkwardly,” Kon added. “Sometimes literally.” He shrugged. 

Tim just continued to stare at them, and Jason started to get worried. He flew closer to his bonded. “Tim? You alright there? Frag, you don’t _ not _ want to be our soulmate right?”

That seemed to shock Tim out of his thoughts. “What? No, that’s not it. That’s not it at all!” He vigorously shook his head. “It’s just… a lot to take in. Finding out I’m a dragon-shifter was already a lot, but wow. I have a soulmate. _ Two _ soulmates. I never thought…”

Jason felt a wave of emotion hit him through the bond as Tim tried to express himself where he couldn’t find the words. He knew Kon must be feeling it too, the mix of loneliness and vulnerability and slowly bubbling _ hope._

The only thing Jason could think to do was send back his own wave of emotions, doubled up as Kon echoed his promise of care and companionship and what felt suspiciously like the tentative beginnings of _ love._

They flew over to give Tim as close to a hug as they could while in dragon form. Frag, their third was _ enormous. _Gorgeous, too. 

“We can figure out the details later. For now, how about we just enjoy flying in the open vacuum of space while we can?”

Jason swore Tim’s smile at that suggestion was brighter than all of the stars around them.

  
Art by [Akira](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rider_of_Spades).

**Author's Note:**

> Across art creation, writing, editing, and generally helping the rest of us figure out how to fit dragons, soulmates, and SPACE all in the same fic, _Heart's Bounty_ contains contributions from Airdanteine, Akira, ayzengima, azemex, bewaretheboojum, chibinightowl, njw, nanimok, salazarastark, shmoo92, Snow, strawberryjei, and vellaphoria.
> 
> Thank you for all the time and care you put into this present and for helping us celebrate Mandy's birthday!


End file.
